1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to the design of an interconnect module. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to the design of an interconnect module that includes a hybrid silicon photonic interconnect, and which facilitates assembling and integrating of multiple interconnect modules arranged into a stack.
2. Related Art
As total bandwidths from a VLSI chip approach 10 Tbps and beyond, the pin count and line speed of existing electrical input/output (I/O) interconnects often set physical limitations on the total data-communication capacity from existing packaging and printed-circuit-board technologies. As a consequence, optical communication is increasingly being used within systems to rapidly communicate large amounts of data. However, while conventional photonic technologies based on VCSELs can provide a convenient and cost-effective solution for transporting modest aggregate data capacity in certain parts of these systems (in particular, between racks and, in certain cases, between boards within a rack), VCSELs usually cannot be easily scaled to meet the extreme bandwidth, size, and power requirements needed for I/O interconnects that communicate directly to future chips (which are sometimes referred to as ‘direct I/O interconnects’).
Silicon photonics has been proposed as the technology of choice for direct I/O interconnects because, in principle, it can be integrated and scaled in production. However, the following need to occur before widespread acceptance of silicon photonics can be achieved. First, system designers need to have confidence that silicon photonics can meet the required reliability, manufacturing scale and cost points. Second, techniques for packaging and assembling of silicon-photonic transport mechanisms into a viable electrical-connector-based system need to be developed.
Hence, what is needed is an interconnect module that facilitates the use of silicon photonics in direct I/O interconnects without the problems described above.